Sport

T&T cruise past Bermuda in friendly

PORT OF SPAIN, CMC

WITH A VIRTUALLY full list of overseas professionals to choose from, new coach Leo Beenhakker guided Trinidad and Tobago to a 4-0 triumph over Bermuda in their friendly international at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday night.

The T&T Soca Warriors, preparing for crucial back-to-back CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers in early June, built on a 1-0 half-time advantage and outclassed the 12th ranked Caribbean Football Union (CFU) team with second-half strikes from Britain-based professionals Kenwyn Jones, Dennis Lawrence and Stern John.

Fell behind

Bermuda, who had proved competitive against Trinidad and Tobago when the Soca Warriors had a two-match series in Hamilton in February last year, losing the first game 0-1 and drawing the second 2-2, fell behind after 34 minutes on an own goal by defender Cofi Dill.

Under pressure from an advancing John, Dill inadvertently turned the ball past his own goalkeeper as he ran on to meet a threatening ball across the goal.

Jones, who plays for Stoke City, sent the Warriors further ahead in the 47th minute when he collected a cross from Carlos Edwards, cut inside and slotted the ball in from close range at the near post.

The tall Wrexham defender struck in the 57th minute when he scored easily from a left-side cross that John nodded on to him, and John finished the scoring when he latched on to a through ball and lobbed the advancing goalkeeper in the 65th minute.

The teams will meet in another friendly at the Manny Ramjohn on Friday.

The game was Beenhakker's first against international opposition and came just a week after the short-staffed Soca Warriors ­ without their overseas stars ­ slipped 1-0 to Peruvian club Alianza Lima.

Beenhakker, the famous Dutch coach who worked with Holland and such top European club teams as Real Madrid, Feyenord and Ajax Amsterdam, replaced Bertille St. Clair in April.

Anxious to revive their World Cup qualifying hopes, T&T will play Panama on June 4 and against Mexico four days later.

Trinidad and Tobago, ranked second -- behind Jamaica -- in the CFU, are without a win so far from three games and are bottom of the World Cup qualifiers series -- that advances the top three teams automatically to the 2006 finals in Germany -- with one point from two losses and one draw.

The eight-time Caribbean Cup champions earned their point in a 0-0 home draw with Costa Rica in March.

Mexico lead the standings with seven points, followed by the USA (6), Guatemala (4), Costa Rica (4) and Panama (2).